Charles Arthur Floyd, famous as Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. Born in Georgia, he grew up in Oklahoma and turned towards crime to escape poverty. In the beginning, he was involved in highway robberies, but he later became notorious for innumerable bank robberies. He was known to make indiscriminate use of machine gun and had killed several people, including law officers. He was suspected for his involvement in the ‘Kansas City Massacre’ in which 4 law officers were killed, but he denied his involvement in the massacre. On October 22, 1934, Floyd was shot by FBI agents and local lawmen in East Liverpool, Ohio. General public viewed him in a positive light and referred to him as the ‘Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills,’ because he reportedly destroyed mortgage documents while robbing the banks. Oklahoma native, folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote a song in Floyd’s honor, which was later sung by many country and folk musicians. Several characters in books and films have been named after him, besides some music bands.
